Videos shows Phoenix police officers punch, taser deaf black man with cerebral palsy
By: 0:00 - Surveillance video
3:19 - Bodycam 1
7:08 - Bodycam 2
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A deaf man is facing aggravated assault charges against a Phoenix police officer after authorities alleged he bit one of them during a struggle in which officers punched and Tasered him.
Officers Benjamin Harris and Kyle Sue were called to a Circle K near 12th Street and Indian School Road on Aug. 19 to remove a man whom employees said refused to leave the store.
Sue and Harris spoke to the man outside, and he pointed to a man across the street, alleging that the man had assaulted him.
“Are you alleging he assaulted you, and you want him to go to jail?” Sue can be heard asking the man in body camera footage.
The man confirmed, and both officers drove across the street to approach 34-year-old Tyron McAlpin.
McAlpin has not been charged with assaulting the man.
On police body camera video, McAlpin can be seen walking across the Dollar Store parking lot when Sue drives up to him and says, “Hey buddy, stop where you’re at.”
But McAlpin, who is deaf, according to court records, keeps walking.
Harris then pulls up next to him and, in less than a second, reaches out while saying, “have a seat.” Body camera footage shows a struggle as Sue grabs McAlpin’s arm while McAlpin pushes and swings his arms back at Harris. Harris then punches McAlpin. The footage reveals that this struggle lasts about 6 seconds before McAlpin folds over, at which point Sue grabs him, and Harris arrives to assist in bringing McAlpin to the ground.
Harris tells Sue to Tase McAlpin. The body camera video captures both officers bringing McAlpin down to the ground.
At one point in the video, Harris brings his arm around McAlpin’s face. The footage shows his closed hand moving toward McAlpin’s mouth, which is already open, and it appears to pass near his teeth.
McAlpine is charged with biting Harris.
Body camera footage records Harris repeatedly telling McAlpin to put his hands behind his back, but he does not comply.
As Harris continues to instruct McAlpin to put his hands behind his back, Sue strikes the back of McAlpin’s head, prompting him to raise his hands over his head for protection. The video shows Harris shouting more forcefully for McAlpin to comply before he begins to punch McAlpin with closed fists.
Later, McAlpin stands up and mentions that he believes he broke his knuckles.
As Sue continues to strike McAlpin, Harris pulls out a Taser and shoots McAlpin. In the footage, McAlpin can be heard crying out as Harris continues to shout, “Hands behind your back.”
After a minute of struggling on the ground, which included a dozen closed-fist strikes and four deployments of the Taser, Harris and Sue manage to cuff McAlpin.
McAlpin was charged with aggravated assault against an officer.
A probable cause hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to take McAlpin to court on the aggravated assault charges was held on Oct. 1.
Harris testified that if McAlpin had indicated he was deaf, the incident could have been avoided.
After reviewing the testimonies of both Sue and Harris, along with the body camera footage of the incident, Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Nick Saccone determined that there was sufficient evidence for the felony charges against McAlpin to move forward.